Outstanding young Fellows of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine are nominated by respective Colleges every year to be recognised for their remarkable achievements and contributions to the developments of the Academy or its Colleges. This year, the HKCFP has nominated Dr. Candy Luk and Dr. Amy Ng, our outstanding candidates of Exit Examination 2024, to meet members of the Academy Council and distinguished guests in September over a formal dinner at the Academy. Congratulations to both Dr. Luk and Dr. Ng for their great achievements again!

As we are approaching the winter season, the Government has recently launched the 2024/25 Seasonal Influenza Vaccination (SIV) Programmes, including the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme, the Government Vaccination Programme, the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination School Outreach Programme (SIVSOP) and the Residential Care Home Vaccination Programme to provide free or subsidised SIV for persons aged 50 or above (including the elderly living in residential care homes); adults aged 18 to 49 with underlying comorbidities; persons aged 6 months or above with immunocompromising conditions; pregnant women and healthcare workers, etc. In addition, people belonging to the aforementioned groups should receive an additional COVID-19 booster regardless of the number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines received before for dual protection. A COVID-19 vaccine can be co-administered with, or separated from, an SIV under informed consent. (please click) Thanks to the dedicated family doctors in the community, we should continue to do our good work by encouraging the citizens to have the vaccinations as soon as possible.

With global population ageing as we speak, more and more patients suffering from non-communicable diseases are needing medical care and attention. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are two examples amongst the top of the list of chronic diseases that are on the rise in all parts of the world, putting increasing service demands on health care systems, and Hong Kong is no exception to this global phenomenon. 

When a person with hypertension comes for a follow-up consultation in the clinic, one of the must-dos is to obtain his/her blood pressure. A number of people would feel anxious and unsettled in less familiar environments, in this context, the clinic, let alone having the blood pressure taken by a stranger, in this case, a healthcare worker. Therefore, it is not unimaginable that the blood pressure readings so obtained might be higher than they should have been, at least in some cases. In the September issue of our College journal the Hong Kong Practitioner (HKPract), the original article “Automated office waiting-area blood pressure as a practical method to eliminate white coat effect in conventional office blood pressure measurement in Chinese older people in a clinic setting in Hong Kong” (by SP Leung) discussed an investigation into applying automatic office blood pressure measurement in the waiting area in order to remove the effects of the so called white coat effect in blood pressure measurement, and to check whether the automatic office blood pressure measurement in the waiting area could be comparable with home blood pressure monitoring. The article highlighted some interesting findings for us to ponder upon. 

The other common chronic condition that is becoming more prevalent is Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Due to the natural progression of the disease, increasingly diabetic patients would have to consider using insulin at some stage in order to achieve optimal glycaemic control. Also in the September issue of the HKPract, “Insulin therapy for Type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary care – common case scenarios and practical tips” (by DGC Ying, CXR Chen) reviewed the availability and usage of newer insulin analogues, structured risk assessment and management programmes, insulin initiation and means of intensification in the community settings. Clinical case scenarios of Type II DM patients commonly presented to family doctors in the primary care settings were discussed and explanation were given for illustrating the management of these patients as well as indications for consideration for referral to secondary care. There are useful learning points in this article.